Royal Caribbean cruiser warns of big mistake that cancels cruises
You don’t want to risk making this major cruise blunder.
It’s easy to make a few mistakes when planning a cruise, especially your first one.
But costly errors that first-time cruisers often make like not booking cruise extras in advance or failing to budget for gratuities or other onboard expenses aren’t the most significant ones you could make.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line warns passengers about crappy mistake
The biggest cruise mistakes you can make are serious slip-ups that can get your cruise canceled.
One of these mistakes is a major oversight that can easily happen to anyone, like one first-time cruiser who frantically turned to the Royal Caribbean community on Reddit for advice after making it.
After planning an upcoming anniversary celebration cruise a year in advance, the first-time cruiser missed the final payment deadline for their cruise.
For most Royal Caribbean cruises, passengers must make the final payment of their balance at least 70 days prior to the sailing date.
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What happens if you forget to make your final Royal Caribbean cruise payment?
“I forgot to pay my final balance on my Royal Caribbean [cruise],” Norie08 wrote in the Reddit community. “Finally, I remembered it... but now I have received notice of cancellation of my cruise. Can I still beg them I'm going to pay? I keep calling them, but nobody answers. I'm so sad!”
Luckily, the cruise community responded with some promising information.
“I worked for Royal. They will reinstate within 49 hours. Keep calling. We had people working around the clock. You have to wait your turn for you mess up though,” barefootincozumel replied.
Later, Norie08 reported back that they did, in fact, get their reservation reinstated once they reached the cruise line and made the payment. However, they lost some of their cruise perks because of their mistake.
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Other cruisers shared similar experiences, and some even reported having to pay more or book a different stateroom category. In some cases, a canceled reservation can't be reinstated, which means you lose your deposit and have to rebook, often at a higher cruise fare.
“I did the exact same thing and just called them and had them uncancel it. I ended up paying more but I see it as a natural consequence of my own forgetfulness,” Mathematician_Soggy explained.
Your forgetfulness may also mean dealing with the hassle of rebooking any cruise extras you added, too.
“Same thing happened to me and it took 2 hours on phone to fix it. I was sick to my stomach. Remember that everything you added (drink package, specialty dining, excursions) have to be rebooked too,” jayaybee21 pointed out.
How to make sure you don’t forget to make your final cruise payment
In the Reddit thread, a few passengers also shared tips to help cruisers avoid missing the final cruise payment deadline.
Most cruise lines offer some sort of flexible payment option that allows you to schedule payments in installments to pay for your cruise over time. For Royal Caribbean cruises specifically, some passengers have discovered that using this tool even to schedule one small payment will make sure that your final payment is automatically drafted on the due date.
“Pro tip: schedule payments. Just schedule a payment of like $1 or whatever and the payment scheduler will automatically put the remaining balance as a payment on the last day, then you won't have to worry if you forget,” insidmal explained.
Related: Royal Caribbean cruisers share surprising way to improve cruises
Other passengers pointed out how using a good travel agent to book your cruise can provide extra peace of mind as your final payment deadline nears.
“This is a tough lesson to learn. I highly suggest using a really good travel agent for future sailings. A good travel agent is paid directly by the cruise line and often will save you money on your sailing by getting you both group rates and additional onboard credit. My agent emails, calls, and texts prior to final payment date to ensure everything is settled up,” GermantownTiger wrote.
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